Switzerland: Case against Gaddafi son dropped

Geneva's public prosecutor said on Wednesday he was dropping a criminal case against thw son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi after two Arab domestic

Geneva's public prosecutor said on Wednesday he was dropping a criminal case against thw son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi after two Arab domestic workers withdrew an assault complaint.

According to Reuters, a statement from the office of the prosecutor, Daniel Zappelli, said he was also not pursuing a lesser charge against Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife Aline of constraining their two employees.

Zappelli conveyed he had acted after the lawyer for the plaintiffs had given assurances before a judge that the employees, who filed the case after an incident in a Geneva hotel in July, had withdrawn it of their own free will. The brief detention in Geneva of the Libyan ruler's son sparked anger in Tripoli and led to the detention of two Swiss nationals and warnings that oil shipments could be halted to Switzerland, for which Libya is the main energy supplier.

Zappelli said last month he would not drop the case because of its diplomatic implications. The statement on Wednesday said the bail of 500,000 Swiss francs ($450,000) the Gaddafi couple had lodged before they returned to Tripoli would now be given back to them.